Right of daughter in property

Respected Sir
I got married in 1997. My wife is youngest of all, came from a big family (7 sisters and 4 brothers). My father-in law died in 1983 with a sudden heart attack. At that time 3 of my wife’s sisters got married. From there onwards my mother-in-law is looking after the family responsibilities.
My father –in –law got 15 acres of agriculture land( West Godavari in Andhra Pradesh) and 6 rooms old inherited house in which they still living with some modifications according to present living environments & fecilities. The house area is near about one acre land with an open area . ( the entire property is in the name of my father-in-law till the sale in Sep’14)
The 15 acres land was a part (Total land 46 acres ) of distributed among the 3 brothers of my father-in-law which was inherited from his grand grand fathers .(not the own earnings of my father-in-law)
The said (15 acres) land has been sold( for 5 crores appx) in Sep’2014 by the four brothers with consent of mother, without informing to the seven sisters. After came to know the sale matter the sisters requested for reasonable amount from mother & brothers. But they denied that and argued that they incurred lacs of rupees for maintenance/marriage and after marriage(delivery exp etc.) and rejected for any cash payments and nothing was given.
Then all the sisters approached a lawyer and sent legal notices . But they didn’t responded to the notices . Then all the sisters filed a suit in local dist court for claim & partition in Jan’15(after serving notices).Till date the case is going on and on every hearing date the brothers asking for adjournment. Nearly 20 months crossing there is no outcome of the case.
Our query is whether these sisters are having right in that property or not. If the right is there why the court is taking such a long period for clearance and if so how much time it will take ?
Please advice in this matter for a fruitful outcome.

Asked 4 months ago in Property Law from Kolkata, West Bengal

Religion: Hindu

1),Sisters have equal right in the sale proceeds of the 15 acres of land
2) sisters should besides filing suit for partition should have also sought setting aside sale deed as property sold without their consent
3) partition suit takes around 15 years to be disposed of

Litigation is long drawn process
2) courts are over burdened and it takes years for suit to be disposed of
3) as mentioned earlier it may take around 15 years for suit disposal
4) it all depends upon pendency of cases in trial court

1. The property that sons and daughters inherit from their father becomes their separate property which is at par with their self acquired property, to sell which they do not require the consent of anyone in the family. However, if the father died intestate then sisters and brother succeeded equally to the property of father. In the absence of a relinquishment deed by sisters their share could not have been sold by their brothers. So the sisters are at liberty to file a suit for partition to cull out their share in the property.
2. Since the grievance of the sisters is that there is delay in the disposal of the partition suit they may move the High Court for directions to expedite the disposal of the case.

The daughters are having a right to claim their legitimate share out of their father's property.
They are entitled to an equal share to that of their brothers.
They have filed partition suit seeking partition and separate possession of their respective shares in the properties left behind by their father upon his intestate death
Normally a partition suit will take a minimum of 5 years or more and when the matter is very big and there are lot of defendants, it may take 10 years or more to get disposed.
So there is no use in hurrying up things, it will take its own time and the time taken cannot be predicted.
Though it will take time, their share in the property is assured by law.

1. The sisters have taken the right step to file a partition suit,
2. Hope the buyers of the said 15 acres of land have been made parties to the said suit also praying for cancellation of the registration of the said sale deeds which has been executed and registered without the consent of all the legal heirs of the owner of the property being the sisters,
3. Delay taken by the Court is a different matter which you shall have to counter separately,
4. Ask your lawyer to make mention or file a petition before the Court for early hearing,
5. If you do not get any favourable order, file a Writ Petition before the High court praying for a direction upon the court lower to hear and dispose the case within a fixed time frame,
6. The Court lower will act based on the direction to be given by the High court in this regard.,

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